‘True Blood:’ So tragic, it’s funny

So, we finally know what Maryann is, and it’s not good. She’s basically Satan’s handmaiden — no big surprise there — though she’s more powerful than that title might suggest. She’s also pretty darn ruthless, as her devotee Daphne learned, much to her shock, on the dock, with a knife but no rock. (OK, OK, I’ll give the Seussian stuff a rest.) Shape-shifers are beyond her control, according to Daphne, which is why Maryann finds Sam beguiling. (Do you suppose that poor bunny that dripped blood all over Sookie’s floor was slaid because Sam broke free before he could be sacrificed?)

Now the question becomes, how do you get Satan’s handmaiden out of your little hamlet when she finds it so very comfy, its residents so orgy-compliant and their memories so easy to clear? (Though some of them were kinda prudish for orgy participants — any character with a name was awfully overdressed.) Andy and Sam know some of what went on in the woods, so they would seem to be the key to vanquishing Maryann, though Andy did come across as a raving nutjob when he was accusing the Merlotte’s clientele of being “devil zombies.”

Tara may be key, too, since Maryann has some sort of connection to her, and Tara is increasingly unsettled by what she’s seen and, now, by what she can’t recall. I’m wondering if Eggs is partly a means of controlling Tara. Does anybody else suppose he has somehow been enchanted into being what Tara would see as her ideal? Or that he is, in fact, some sort of creature that has been turned human specifically to be Tara’s perfect match?

The Bon Temps contingent in Dallas — with the exception of Hoyt and Jessica, who seem to have found true love in a room illuminated by blood-scented candles — continued to have a rough time, what with Bill trapped in his hotel room with his very pushy Maker (who sees his love for a human as “so tragic, it’s funny”) and Sookie stuck in a supply cage with Hugo, the vamp pet revealed to be the traitor who sold her out.

Things went from bad to worse when Gabe charged into the cage, beating the crap out of Hugo (who, to be fair, deserved to be beaten by somebody) and then roughing up Sookie as a warmup for rape. And who should come to her rescue but Godrick, who seems to be well-suited by captivity — he seemed pretty darn fresh for a vamp who’d been imprisoned for a while (though not nearly as juicy as he’d been when he turned Eric).

Speaking of Eric, he sees Vampire Stan’s hand in Godrick’s kidnapping, and has sworn vengeance for that as soon as he finds the evidence. Which I’m guessing will come any episode now. And Eric, as usual, had one of the best lines in the show, noting that humans “certainly don’t keep well.”

The one disappointment I had with this episode was that it appears to be a coincidence that Jason was so ardently courted by the Fellowship. I had thought it was because they knew his sister was dating a vampire, but it turns out that’s not the case — they didn’t know Sookie and Jason are related until Hugo gave up her last name. So their pursuit of Jason really doesn’t make any sense — there’s obviously no dearth of vampire haters with disposable income who’d be willing to pony up for the fellowship classes.

OK — I had one other disappointment, but it wasn’t a new one. Once again, the flasback scenes were interminable (though, admittedly, so overheated that they were funny).